A 'DISGUSTED' mum has hit out at charity shop staff after her disabled daughter was reduced to tears and forced to wear soiled clothes when she was refused access to a toilet.

Mum-of-three Jody Anderson has told of her anger following the incident at Greenock’s Salvation Army donation centre where her daughter Casey Lyon was turned away by their shop workers.

A spokesperson for the charity told the Tele they 'whole heartedly' apologise for the situation and they offered to further follow up the complaint. 

Eleven-year-old Casey is the only person in the whole of Scotland with Johanson-Blizzard Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that affects many of her organs.

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The brave youngster has had to undergo numerous surgeries which have weakened her bladder and as a result she frequently suffers from urinary tract infections (UTIs).

(Image: George Munro)

Jody, 34, told the Telegraph that no other shop in Greenock had ever had an issue allowing her daughter to use their toilet.

She said: “Other places will let her use staff toilets or into the disabled toilets, it’s frankly disgusting that she was told no.

“She had turned around and told me that she needed the toilet, there were no facilities down that area, so I went to ask staff.

“The guy told me it was staff only, I explained she had a disability and that she couldn’t hold it and he repeated ‘I told you staff only’.

“I turned around and there was urine all down my daughter’s legs, she was quite upset.

“It wasn’t helped by the fact she has a UTI just now so when she needs to go she really has to, she’s on antibiotics for that.

“Nobody even offered help when she was soaked right down to her trainers.

“I was raging, I just had no words. I just dumped my stuff and walked out.

“I don’t have a car so she had to walk soaking wet over to Tesco to get sorted.

"I bought her pants and there were people in there I know that helped me out by letting her use a different facility so she could get cleaned up.”

Jody said it was incredibly difficult to explain the situation to her distraught daughter, who is deaf and has a form of dwarfism.

(Image: George Munro)

After the incident she reached out to the Salvation Army’s head office, but says she received no response from the charity’s bosses.

She added: “I was disgusted, angry and heartbroken that my daughter was having to go through that.

“It was extra stress on what was already a stressful day, and it wasn’t necessary."

Jody said: “Frankly I just feel let down, if I was in that kind of work and I had an email like that I’d be responding straight away.

“I want an apology, not just to me but to Casey, she should not have to go through that.

“I’ve never had to do this before ever given her disability.

“It’s a horrible experience she’s had to go through.”

Casey has bravely battled with her condition since birth and has had to undergo a number of surgeries to try and improve her health.

Proud mum Jody praised her ‘fighter’ of a daughter, who is one of only 64 children in the world with her condition.

Jody added: “When they corrected everything down there for her – redone tubes and things like that – it made her bladder very weak and scarred and it basically can’t hold enough urine.

“Johanson-Blizzard syndrome actually affects her kidneys as well, she only has one kidney due to urine problems and constant UTIs which causes scarring.

“She spent three months in hospital when she was born on life support and once they decided to start taking her off the medication it was her fight to stay in the world and she did it.”

When contacted by the Telegraph about Jody’s complaint, a Salvation Army spokesperson: “First and foremost, we would like to say that this is a distressing situation and we whole heartedly apologise for any upset this has caused. We are really sorry to hear of this upsetting account.

“We aim to do the very best by customers and visitors to our stores and we fully appreciate that this account does not reflect that.

“We believe there was a misunderstanding at the store and we will be addressing this issue to ensure it does not happen again.

“We now have Jody’s contact details and will ensure we fully and correctly follow-up this up.”